Then and Now

Last night it was Black Swan. I was underwhelmed with Natalie’s dress. It’s not sh-tty, it’s not jizzy, it’s just... ok? Maybe we built it up too much. Maybe they know it’s being built up too much. Maybe they’re trying to control the hype, especially since everyone is calling it already an Oscar contender and the film doesn’t release until December.

But it was a different story for us on the carpet. On the carpet there was Then and Now.

Now of course is Natalie Portman – a classic beauty coming into her talent who is at the top of every list, and everyone will take her call. In other words, exactly what Winona Ryder used to be...

Then.

Hollywood is a f-cker, non?

And when you see it side by side, well, it’s a little unbearable. There’s Natalie, everything is firm, tight, promising, and hopeful, and Winona follows, a little loose around her face now, not so much by age but by... heartbreak, I think, on so many levels. Fuller around the middle, and not so bright eyed anymore, and in this light, under Portman’s light, the red lipstick isn’t so much dramatic now as it is garish, Winona next to Natalie is all kinds of uncomfortable. At least to me.

They don’t stay the same forever which of course is a truth you are aware of intellectually but the moment it’s made clear to you emotionally, if that’s the right word, the word that follows is inevitably Sadness. Is that unfair?